


Strike Back!

by RisemboolRanger



Category: Beyblade
Genre: Drama, F/M, Friendship, Romance, sport
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2013-08-23
Packaged: 2017-11-20 00:11:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisemboolRanger/pseuds/RisemboolRanger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even though she's a huge sports enthusiast, Antonia's always hated jocks. But the tables have turned and she's now treading a fine line between love and hate... Will it be too close for comfort with the next American tournament closing in?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Batter Up!

“Strike one!” Antonia called. “Maybe I need to find a better opponent.”

“Yeah, right. I’m just warming up,” Edward insisted, fetching the baseball he’d missed and tossing it back over to her.

Antonia caught it neatly in her glove. “Sure you are. Come on, let’s go again.”

She threw the next one too wide and it passed the foul line. Edward only bothered to swing half-heartedly, not even coming close to hitting it. “Foul ball!”

“Damn,” Antonia grumbled to herself. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d thrown a foul ball. Not for a good year, at least.

Edward threw the ball back a second time. “You’re not losing your touch, are you, Ant? You shouldn’t let my good looks distract you so much.”

“And you shouldn’t let your big head distract you,” said Antonia, throwing the ball whilst he wasn’t paying attention. He tried to swing for it, but he wasn’t fast enough. It sailed past and hit the fence behind. “Strike two! One more and you’re out!”

Edward grinned, collecting the ball and pitching it to her. “I didn’t think you’d resort to foul play.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault if you’re not paying attention,” Antonia pointed out. “Keep your head in the game, you narcissistic douche!”

“Aww, you’re cute when you’re annoyed,” teased Edward.

Antonia took her baseball glove off. “Be serious, Ed. You know I wanted to practice. If you don’t quit screwing around, I’m not gonna practice with you anymore.”

“Course you will,” said Edward confidently. “You’ve got no one else to practice with. Artie and Finn don’t even like baseball.”

“At this rate, I’d rather practice by myself,” said Antonia. Even as she said it, she felt like she was being a bit of a drama queen. Edward always infuriated her a lot easier than most people. Maybe she was just overreacting.

“Don’t be silly; then you’d miss out on my gorgeous face,” grinned Edward.

Nope. Definitely not overreacting. He was still as annoyingly overconfident as ever. “I’m sure I’d survive,” she said testily.

“Come on, Ant, put your glove back on. I’ll be good,” promised Edward. “I still need to prove that I’m a better batter than you are a pitcher.”

“You’re not doing very well at it so far,” said Antonia, though she did put her glove back on. She could never back down from a challenge.

“Hey, it only takes one good hit to put me back in the game,” said Edward.

“For once, you’re right,” agreed Antonia, throwing the ball fast and hard.

Edward swung at it with all his strength. It hit with a resounding thunk and ricocheted to the right. Antonia darted sideways and dove for it, just about catching it in her glove. She landed hard on her side, but she didn’t really care. When you were as competitive as she was, every victory was exhilarating.

“Out!” she shouted happily, pushing herself to her feet and holding the ball up for Edward to see.

“Dammit!” Edward childishly threw his bat on the floor. He was competitive too and not a very gracious loser.

Antonia danced over to him and held up her hand for a high five. “Without trying to inflate your ego anymore, you still played good! You nearly had me.”

Edward grinned and returned her high five. “I did, didn’t I?”

She just rolled her eyes. “I’m not saying it again.”

“Say it just once more and I’ll buy you ice cream,” Edward offered.

Antonia laughed. He might have been an egotistical womaniser most of the time, but he could also be quite charming when he wanted to be. “Fine, you nearly beat me. Now let’s go so you can get me a strawberry sundae.”

**XXX**

They were only just queuing up at the ice cream bar when Antonia’s cell phone started ringing. She used personalised ringtones for the people she called most, so she knew that it was her best friend Finlay.

She fetched the phone from her pocket and flipped it open. “What’s up, Finn?”

Edward only half listened to what she was saying whilst he ordered their ice creams from the counter.

“Yeah, we’ve finished practicing,” Antonia was saying. “We’re at Juliani’s now.” She paused for Finlay’s response. “Sure, come up. We’re only just getting served, so we’ll still be here. Okay. See you in a bit.”

Edward had already paid by the time she’d hung up and was leading her over to their favourite booth by the corner window. They knew the best times to come here – it was usually pretty empty at this time on a morning.

“Finn and Artie are just round the corner at Morocco Records,” said Antonia. “They’re coming round after.”

“Oh, okay, that’s cool,” said Edward.

Finlay and Artie appeared before their ice creams did. They sat down and then ordered their own ice creams from the waitress who brought Antonia and Edward’s over.

“So what did you buy?” asked Antonia, peeking inside Finlay’s bag before he even had a chance to reply.

“Some new drumsticks and a couple of vinyls. Feel free to have a look,” said Finlay sarcastically.

Antonia just grinned back at him and emptied the bag onto the table. Her and Finlay were close enough that they were practically like brother and sister. She picked up the first vinyl record and started reading the sleeve.

“How did baseball practice go?” asked Artie. “Who won?”

“Take a guess,” grumbled Edward.

Artie laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Bad luck, bro. You’ll beat her one day.”

Edward and Artie were actually twins. Antonia and Edward would probably have never even spoken, had it not been for that fact. Antonia and Finlay had been best friends since the start of high school. They’d then met Artie in their second year and Edward through him. They’d sort of fallen into their little friendship group from then on and had also started their own Beyblading team.

“Hey, what’s this?” Antonia had found a leaflet amongst Finlay’s vinyls. There was a large image of a Beyblade on the front.

“Oh, they were giving them out outside JB Sports,” replied Finlay. “It looks quite interesting actually. It’s from the All-Starz Sports Centre. They’re making all the facilities available to the public if you register your team with them.”

Antonia was surprised. “But they spent millions on that place. Why would they open it up for just anyone to use?”

“Well, like I said, you have to register,” said Finlay. “And they give you membership badges to gain access to everything.”

Edward raised his eyebrows. “There must be some kind of catch. How much do the memberships cost?”

“It says in there that it’s free,” said Finlay. “I guess is just looks better on their team by doing this. The more teams that join, the more everyone’s gonna appreciate them.”

“They have so much there!” added Artie. “They’ve got several Beystadiums, two swimming pools, a gym, an indoor basketball court...”

“They’re even linked to that nice new baseball diamond on Maple Avenue,” said Finlay.

Both Antonia and Edward looked impressed. It was a lot better than the diamond they’d been practicing on. “We should register,” said Edward, flipping through the leaflet himself.

“Hey, I thought I was the team captain here,” Antonia pointed out.

“Well, don’t you think we should?” asked Edward.

Antonia hesitated. “Are you sure it’s free?”

“Positive,” replied Finlay. “It says the only things there that aren’t are the gear shop and the cafeteria. Which sounds fair – they can hardly afford to give away free stock too.”

“Yeah, that’s true... Alright then,” said Antonia brightly. “We can go straight from here if you guys want to.”

Her teammates happily agreed to it and they headed straight over to the All-Starz Sports Centre as soon as they’d finished their ice creams. When they got there, they were all pretty intimidated. They’d seen it from the outside before, but on the inside, it somehow seemed even bigger. They stood together in the middle of the foyer, looking quite lost.

“This place is huge!” exclaimed Artie. “Where do you reckon we’re supposed to go?”

“That looks like some kind of reception desk over there,” said Antonia, pointing to the left. “Let’s go and ask.”

They wandered over to the desk where a pretty dark-haired girl was sitting. She looked up and smiled when she saw them. “Hello there. How can I help?”

“We’re here to register our team,” explained Antonia. “Do you know where we’re supposed to go?”

“Sure, you’ll need to speak to the director.” The receptionist leant across the desk so that she could point down the main corridor. “Go straight down here and through the glass doors. The director’s office should then be the first door on your right.”

“Okay, thanks,” Antonia smiled.

They made their way down the corridor, following the receptionist’s directions. They found the director’s office easily and were greeted by an attractive blonde woman. “Hi. Can I help you?”

“We wanted to register our team. The receptionist sent us here,” explained Antonia.

“Of course! You came to the right place,” the woman beamed. “My name’s Judy Tate – I’m director of the BBA and also manager to the All-Starz team. Please come in and take a seat.”

She led the way into her office and sat down behind the desk. There were several chairs grouped around the front of the desk. Antonia and the boys all followed her in and grabbed seats. Judy pulled some forms out of the paper sorter on the desk and took a pen out of her pocket.

“Right. First thing’s first, I need your team name,” she said professionally.

“Chaos Engines,” Antonia replied.

“You can tell _she_ came up with the name,” Edward muttered.

“Shut up,” Antonia protested.

The director didn’t comment on their banter, but she smiled. She could see Edward’s point. Antonia was only tiny, but she certainly seemed to make sure that people took notice of her with her spiky flaming red hair, punk-grunge fashion, multiple tattoos... And probably a lot of attitude too. Chaos Engines seemed like a fitting name to have come from her mind.

“Now who’s your team captain?” Judy continued.

“I am,” said Antonia. No surprise there.

“Can I have your full name please?”

“Antonia LaVelle.”

“And do you have a co-captain?” Judy enquired.

“Yeah, that’s me,” said Edward. That wasn’t a surprise either. “It’s Edward McKay.”

Judy turned to Artie and Finlay. “And can I have both of your full names too?”

“Artie McKay and Finlay Flynn,” Artie answered for the both of them. He knew that Finlay hated his full name with a passion and would avoid it where he could.

Fortunately, that wasn’t what the director focused on. “So you two are brothers then.” She made it a statement rather than a question, flicking her pen from Artie to Edward.

“Twins actually,” Edward corrected.

Judy smiled. “That’s lovely.” They weren’t identical, but she could easily see the resemblance with their matching blue eyes and hair the same shade of blonde. She found it sweet that they were clearly close. Close enough to blade together at least.

She asked them more questions about their team and their preferred Beyblading styles, all the while writing everything down on the registration form. She then began questioning them on other sports, in order to find out which of the facilities they’d be more inclined to use.

Antonia had more to offer than the boys did. All four of them enjoyed volleyball, but Artie wasn’t so sports orientated besides that. Antonia and Edward both played baseball and soccer, whereas Finlay was Antonia’s companion for skateboarding – her favourite sport. On top of that, she also played tennis and competitive swimming. She wanted to get better at basketball too, but she knew that her height gave her an extreme disadvantage.

“Well, hopefully the All-Starz Sports Centre can accommodate for the majority of what you’d need,” said Judy, re-reading through the list of sports that the team had accumulated between them. “We have indoor swimming pools and an inside basketball court. There are tennis courts on both ends of the complex and a soccer pitch behind the main building. No facilities for skateboarding though, I’m afraid. It wasn’t a sport we’d really taken into account during the designing phase.”

“That’s okay. We really like the skate park over on Ormskirk Boulevard anyway,” said Finlay.

“Good, good,” replied Judy, consulting the list again. “We’re sponsoring the new baseball diamond on Maple Avenue, so you’ll have free access to practice there, as well as discounted tickets for the local games. We’re also going to start organising evening volleyball matches on the beach at Poinciana Bay. It’ll be a few weeks yet, because we still need to plan more for it, but there’s a list in the main foyer where you can put your names down if you’re interested.”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome!” exclaimed Artie. The others agreed enthusiastically.

Judy seemed pleased. “Great! As well as all of that, we also have multiple Beyblading stadiums and a gym within the building. Though we don’t have much of a range in the way of gym equipment. We want to concentrate more on specific sports.”

“It all sounds great,” Antonia reassured. “But is there _really_ no catch to all of this?”

Judy laughed at the suspicious look on her face. “Really, there’s no catch. Here, we believe that all sports can be linked in to personal Beyblading styles, so we want to give more bladers the chance to practice and refine their skills, as well as themselves, in different ways. It gives the All-Starz team good endorsement too as our sponsor. All we ask if that you pass the word along and encourage other teams to come down and register.”

None of them could argue with that. Judy finished up their form and declared them officially registered. She gave each of them star-shaped pins, emblazoned with the letters ‘ASC’ – they were their confirmation tickets to gain free access both at the sports centre and the new baseball diamond.

“If you happen to lose your pin, just come back to me and I can issue you a new one,” Judy informed them. “You’re now free to use all of the All-Starz facilities. Don’t forget to sign up for the volleyball matches when you’re on your way out.”

They all thanked her as they left and headed straight for the foyer, attaching their pins to shirts and bags as they walked. There weren’t many names on the list for the volleyball matches yet – it had clearly only been up for a few days. As Edward was eagerly adding their names to their list, a group of jocks came in through the main entrance.

They came across as a lot bigger than the Chaos Engines, especially Antonia, whose own teammates already towered over her as it was. The one leading the group was just reaching above average height and toned to perfection. The two on his flanks were tall and athletic-looking, and then short but extremely well-built, respectively. All in all, they gave off an intimidating image and they knew it. And used it.

“Hey, looks like we’ve got some small fry signing up.”

Antonia was the first to turn and glare at them, which only made them all laugh. “Who are you calling small fry?”

“And they’ve got a girl with them. She’s even tinier than Emily!”

“Yeah, sorry, shortie. We didn’t see you down there.”

“Say that again,” Antonia dared angrily, starting towards the guy in the middle. One thing she really hated was people picking on her height. Finlay and Artie quickly latched onto her arms and pulled her back. The jocks just laughed even more.

“Look, guys,” Edward cut in before Antonia could say anything else. “We don’t wanna start anything here.”

“Smart move, kid.”

“Cause you’d lose.”

The three guys carried on past, still laughing. Edward was smart enough not to say anything else. Finlay and Artie only released Antonia once the jocks were safely out of sight. She was not happy.

“This is exactly why I hate jocks so much!” she exclaimed, still fuming.

“Yeah, and that’s exactly why we didn’t let you near them,” Edward muttered.


	2. Out Of The Park!

The new All-Starz Sport Centre was definitely as good as promised. The Chaos Engines team had been back every day the following week, trying out something new each time. They’d checked out most of the facilities already and were all in agreement that there was nothing to sniff at. Everything was top of the range – as expected from a centre endorsed by one of the biggest names in Beyblading.

They decided to check out the gym on the Friday afternoon. Then they’d saved the best for last. The Beystadiums.

“Wow. The director wasn’t kidding when she said they didn’t have much in the way of gym equipment,” Edward commented, looking around.

It was true. The gym was really quite tiny. It consisted of just two treadmills, a few other various exercise machines and a small weight lifting area. On top of that, the room’s small size meant that it was also extremely crowded. The people waiting for the machines were having to queue in every spare bit of space that they could find.

“You’d think at least some of these people would rather just go to a proper gym,” Finlay pointed out quietly. “Rather than having to wait half an hour for one of two treadmills.”

“I think it’s more the idea of not having to pay,” said Antonia.

Now that they were here, she was a little disappointed to see how busy the tiny gym was. Seeing the equipment, however small the range was, made her realise just how long it had been since she’d had a proper workout. Now that she’d seen the cross trainer machine, she was already itching to have a go. Maybe she needed to look into signing up for a gym again.

“I think I’d rather pay than have to wait in this little room full of sweaty people,” said Edward, wrinkling his nose. It was all well and good for him to say – he’d never touched weights in his life.

“Hey, isn’t that one of those idiot jocks from the other day?” asked Antonia, watching a tall, dark-skinned boy on the treadmill in the far corner.

“Oh, yeah, I think you’re right...”

“You know those guys are the All-Starz team, right?” Artie piped up.

“ _What_?”

It was hard to tell what was more surprising – the fact that the ‘idiot jocks’ were the reason their team could use such an elite sport centre for free or that Artie actually knew something that the rest of them didn’t. The latter really didn’t happen very often. Which was clearly what Edward at least was focusing on.

“How the hell do _you_ know that?”

Artie shrugged. “There were some pictures and articles of them in the director’s office.”

Wow. Maybe they didn’t give him enough credit. “So why didn’t you think to mention that until now?” asked Finlay.

“I just thought you’d seen the pictures too.”

Antonia made a face. “So those jerks are seriously the All-Starz team? No way. This centre’s really not relying on much, is it?”

“No kidding,” agreed Edward. It figured that such a high-ranking team would be made up of a bunch of egotists. “Forget this... Come on, let’s go and check out the Beystadiums.”

“I think that’s the best idea you’ve ever had,” Antonia commended him.

The Beystadiums were much more like it. There were two different training rooms – each with multiple dishes – and a much larger, official arena complete with spectator stands and a commentator’s booth. One of the training rooms had various trick and gimmick themed dishes. The other was just for the basics.

Ever up for the challenge, Antonia and the boys went for the stadium with the themed dishes. They could always do with the extra practice and they could train with basic dishes pretty much anywhere. Plus the gimmick room was nowhere near as busy as the other one was. Most people clearly preferred to battle in a standard arena.

“Let’s go on the Half-pipe dish!” Finlay enthused, pointing to one that looked like something out of a skate park.

“I always heard about the Satellite dish,” Artie added. Some of the dishes were recreations of ones used in past tournaments. The Satellite dish was actually used in the last American tournament and was known for having almost zero levels of grip.

“Well, I’ll go on the Half-pipe with Finn and Ed can use the Satellite dish with Artie,” decided Antonia. “Then we can all swap and try other ones as well.”

“Sounds good!”

And that was how they did it. They swapped pairs depending on who wanted to try what and even had to take it in turns when it came to some of the dishes that they all wanted to have a go with. As they practiced and made their way around the room, the arena started to get busier. Some of the bladers were there to practice too and others just stood there and watched to try and pick up tips.

“I think the Satellite dish is actually good to train with,” Edward admitted when they reconciled after trying out all of the different dishes. “Mostly because it's pretty difficult to get the hang of.”

“Same with the Boston dish,” added Finlay. “I do like the Half-pipe, but it’s not really that different from a regular dish.”

“Right, so we think the Satellite and the Boston dishes will be good to practice on...” Antonia recounted thoughtfully. “The Sahara dish is good too, because it’s hard to blade in the sand. Any others?”

“Maybe the Amazon dish?” Finlay suggested. “It’s hard to get any speed up with all the obstacles and different terrains.”

“The Tower dish too,” Artie chimed in. "That's a different kind of challenge altogether."

“Okay, that should be a good start,” said Antonia. “If we can get used to training around obstacles and on more difficult terrain, then we’ll have no problems blading in easier dishes.”

“Apparently, they used one in the American tournament that was set up like a baseball diamond,” Edward mused aloud. “It’s a shame they didn’t have a recreation of that one here.”

“Aww, no way, that would have been awesome!” Antonia pouted. "I would have _owned_ in a baseball dish."

"Yeah, keep on dreaming, shortstack..."

Antonia whipped round, her teammates following suit, to find herself face-to-face with two of the guys who Artie had now revealed to be from the elite All-Starz team. The dark-skinned boy wasn't with them this time - he was clearly still too busy working out to join in with the goading of new registerees.

And goading definitely worked on Antonia. "Call me short one more time," she growled.

"Y'know, you should be a little friendlier to the sport centre's namesake," pointed out the guy who'd made the 'shortstack' comment. It was easy to tell that he was the ringleader of their little group.

Antonia made a look of distaste. "You were right, Artie... Unfortunately. These guys _are_ the director's pet bladers."

"What; you didn't know who we were?" said the other guy, who was built somewhat like a tank. "You guys live under a rock or somethin'?"

"No, actually," replied Antonia haughtily. "We just happen to have had better things to do than watch you egotists on TV."

Finlay groaned. Antonia never seemed to have heard of the phrase 'pick on someone your own size'. It wouldn't be the first time her big mouth had gotten them all into trouble. "Come on, Ant, let's just go..."

"Hey, wait. I wanna hear who _you_ guys are if you think you're so tough," said the first guy.

"We're the Chaos Engines," Antonia answered readily. "You may wanna remember that. If your dumb jock brains can handle it, that is."

" _Ant_!" Finlay hissed. She may have been a girl, but one day, she was going to get creamed for talking back. Or at least make them lose their membership to the sport centre.

However, the All-Starz guys seemed to find her tough-girl attitude hilarious. " _Chaos_ Engines?" laughed the ringleader. "You need a big name to compensate for being such a tiny team, huh?"

"And the _All-Starz_ is better?" Antonia pointed out. "What; does it make you feel like a pro?"

"We _are_ pros, tiny," he said heatedly. "Why don't you put your Beyblade where your mouth is and we'll prove it to you."

"Gladly. But call me tiny again and I'll shove my Beyblade in _your_ mouth," Antonia threatened through gritted teeth, pulling her blade out of her pocket. "The name's Antonia. Now how about you tell me yours before I invent something more colourful for you..."

The guy raised his eyebrows. Geez, she had a mouth on her. "It's Michael," he said indignantly. "And this is Steve."

"Well, now that we're all being grown-ups, come on... Let's get out of here," said Finlay, pulling at Antonia's arm.

"What? No!" she protested. "If it's a battle they want, then it's a battle they're gonna get!"

"You guys chickening out already?" said Michael amusedly.

" _No_..." Antonia began to protest again, but Artie cut across her.

"Look, we don't wanna start anything," he said naively, ever the peacemaker. "We just came here to practice."

"Well, practice isn't gonna do you squat if you're still too chicken to battle with the big boys, loser," Steve taunted.

"Hey!" Edward exclaimed, suddenly annoyed. Artie was often the butt of the jokes amongst their group - and Edward was usually the one instigating them - but that did not mean that some other douche bag was allowed to pick on his brother. "That's it, I'm with Antonia on this one!"

"You sure you're up for it, blondie?" Steve laughed.

"You bet your ass I am," said Edward, still bristling. Antonia wasn't the only competitive one on the team.

"We doing two rounds then?" asked Michael, amused again.

"How about a tag team battle instead?" Antonia challenged. "Two on two."

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Finlay sighed to himself. How had he ended up with such idiotic teammates?

"You hear that, Steve? They think they can tag team us," Michael grinned.

Steve smirked back. "Hey, I'm game if they wanna take a shot at it."

"Alright, rookies, you're on," said Michael, turning back to Antonia and Edward. "But don't come crying to us when we kick your asses."

"Yeah, in your dreams."

Finlay rolled his eyes. "Guys, the trash talk's getting dull. Pick a dish and get on with it already."

"Chill out, small fry," Steve guffawed. "This'll be over before you know it. Picking a dish will be the least of your worries."

"Why not use the Half-pipe dish?" Artie suggested, completely oblivious to the insults flying around. "That one's easy enough to master."

"We don't _need_ an easy dish!" Antonia exclaimed.

"You do if you want a flying chance," said Michael smugly. "Come on, let's just use the Half-pipe dish and get this over with."

Antonia shrugged. "Hey, whatever makes _you_ feel braver."

"Antonia, I will kick you _into_ the dish in a minute..." Finlay swore.

"Okay, okay!"

They migrated over to the Half-pipe dish and took up their places on either side. Antonia and Edward both reached for their launchers and fitted their Beyblades into place. The All-Starz didn't do the same. Instead, Michael pulled a baseball out of the pocket of his jersey, whilst there wasn't anything in Steve's hands besides the football he'd been carrying.

_Must be specialised launchers_ , Antonia thought. It wouldn't be the first time that they'd come across something of the sort. Apparently, people could make launchers out of anything these days. Personally, she preferred having a good old traditional style launcher herself.

"Everyone ready?" Finlay asked, standing to one side with Artie and taking up the role of referee, eager to hurry them on. He couldn't see this ending well. "The battle will be decided when either one team or one blade is left in the arena."

"Ready," said Antonia and Edward together, holding their launchers in position.

"Bring it on," added Michael, shifting into a pitching stance. Steve nodded his agreement and planted the football end-up on the ground, backing up several paces.

"Then three... two... one... _let it rip_!"

Beyblades launched from every angle - the All-Starz's blades bursting out from what were clearly specially designed mechanisms within the baseball and the football. All four of them entered the Half-pipe dish within moments of each other, every one of them going straight in for a head-on attack. A barrage of sparks exploded from the centre of the dish as they all collided.

Steve's was built much higher than the average Beyblade, with what had to be at least four attack rings. It meant that is was easily the strongest in a head-to-head assault. And with Michael's highly-stacked blade in on the attack too, Antonia and Edward's blades were already getting forced increasingly closer to the edge of the dish.

"We're already losing momentum!" cried Edward.

"We're not gonna win in a shoving match like this - their blades are too sturdy," Antonia realised, gritting her teeth. "Split up, quick!"

Her and Edward's Beyblades spun sharply away from each other, just as Steve's blade went in for one last blow to knock them out of the dish. They zigzagged in opposite directions, arcing back round towards the centre of the half-pipe again and forcing the others to take chase.

"Now that's more like it!" Edward exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air. They may not have had the same brute strength as the All-Starz did, but maybe they'd have the advantage when it came to speed and manoeuvrability.

Or maybe not.

"Don't count your eggs before they hatch, sunshine," goaded Steve.

Before Edward even had the chance to react, Steve's Beyblade had suddenly put on a burst of speed and charged at his own blade. It shot out of the dish, just skimming past Artie's face, and rolled several feet across the floor before coming to a stop.

"What the..." Edward's words died on his lips, a look of astonishment on his face. It had all happened so fast.

_Crap_! Antonia thought to herself, feeling shaken by how easy Steve had made that move look. These guys clearly weren't just all talk after all. They may not have won the last American tournament, but they were certainly strong. Much more so than she'd expected. And now she was on her own against the two of them. Time to bring out the big guns.

The bit chip on her blade started glowing silver. Steve's Beyblade turned and charged again. She only just managed to avoid it, but the light dimmed from her blade. Damn it. How was she supposed to call on her bit beast when he wasn't even giving her the chance? She bit her lip in frustration as her blade narrowly swerved out of the way of Steve's yet again.

"Forgetting someone, shortstack?"

Antonia turned just in time to see Michael's Beyblade smash into her own. She'd been concentrating so hard on avoiding Steve's attacks that she'd completely forgotten about Michael. She hadn't even seen his blade coming. She watched, feeling numb, as her Beyblade landed motionless at her feet.

It was all over. Just like that. And they'd made it look so easy. Both of the All-Starz's blades were still spinning in the dish. They hadn't even lost any of their momentum.

"Hey, we tried to warn you," Michael shrugged, looking smug. "Next time don't get so cocky about thinking you can take on the pros."

Antonia didn't say anything. She was still staring down at her Beyblade. Her ears were ringing. How had they lost so miserably? This could not be happening...

"Ant, it's okay. We can't win all of them," reassured Finlay, stepping up beside her. Antonia turned to see Artie stood a little way off with Edward. Edward was still clutching his blade, looking annoyed with himself.

Antonia shook her head. "No. It's not okay." She stooped to pick up her Beyblade. "I'm going home." She then walked off without another word, squeezing her Beyblade tight in her hand as she tried to blot out her teammates' attempts to stop her, as well as the jeers from the All-Starz.

"What? Don't be stupid!"

"Ant, wait a second!"

"Geez... What a sore loser!"

"Yeah, go on back home and learn how to Beyblade!"

At any other time, Antonia would have bitten their head off for a comment like that. But how could she even begin to argue back after they'd just completely wiped the floor with her? Maybe they were right. Maybe she really did need to learn how to blade better.

Either way, her pride was shot. And pride was a big thing for Antonia. She wasn't going to be showing her face here again for a while. If even at all.

**XXX**

Antonia was in a foul mood for the rest of the afternoon. She holed up in her bedroom with music blasting from her old stereo and spent several hours destroying zombies on her computer, before she eventually grew bored and resigned herself to surfing the internet.

She usually turned to sports when she wanted to vent. She'd hit the batting cage down on North Thacker Avenue or she'd go for a marathon run or jog or _something_... But she was feeling so dejected and ashamed and just generally pissed off with everything that she really didn't feel like leaving the house again today.

So instead, she occupied herself by looking up the rates for all of the nearby gyms. It really had been so long since she'd worked out properly. It'd be good to get back into it regularly. The meagre equipment at the All-Starz Sport Centre just wasn't worth it. Plus she still didn't know if she wanted to go back there at all after the disgrace she'd made of herself.

She still couldn't believe they'd lost. And so badly. They were a _good_ team. She actually couldn't even remember the last time they'd lost a match. She'd clearly gotten herself too caught up in the winning streak. And boy, she did not like the comedown from it.

" _Hey_!"

Antonia jumped at the sound of the loud voice right behind her, almost knocking the computer mouse off the desk. She turned to find one of her older brothers, Tom, who had let himself into her room. He was covering his ears with his hands for extra emphasis.

"Music's a bit loud, don'tcha think?" he said pointedly.

Antonia obligingly turned the music down so that they could talk without having to raise their voices. "It was to keep pesky brothers out," she replied jokingly.

"Not good enough," said Tom. "You need a full barricade and some laser sensors for that."

Antonia raised her eyebrows. "Why laser sensors?"

"Because laser sensors make everything better," said Tom, like it was obvious.

Antonia rolled her eyes. Out of her three brothers, Tom was definitely the geekiest. But he was also the one who picked on her the least. "So to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well, your friend Finn called, checking to see if you were at home. Said you weren't answering his calls," explained Tom. Antonia said nothing. She'd actually switched her cell phone off. "So what did you guys fall out over this time?"

"We haven't fell out," Antonia replied shortly. "And what do you mean 'this time'?"

"Hey, I know what a hothead you can be. I wouldn't wanna put up with you as my best friend," Tom teased.

Antonia scowled. "You know I'm happy to throw things at you, right?"

"Exactly my point." When his sister didn't say anything else, he persisted, "So if you haven't fallen out, then why won't you talk to him?"

"I just don't want to talk to any of them right now."

Tom sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "What have you done now? Something stupid, I'm guessing."

" _No_ ," Antonia objected.

"Then what? Spit it out."

"It's just... We challenged the All-Starz team to a Beybattle - well, Ed and I did - and they absolutely creamed us," Antonia explained miserably.

"And?"

Antonia frowned. "What do you mean; _and_? Did you not hear what I just said?"

"So you're telling me that the reason you're sat sulking in here and won't talk to any of your friends is because you lost one lousy battle?" asked Tom sceptically. "So what?"

Antonia just shook her head and turned back to the computer screen. "You don't get it. You guys don't even really blade anymore."

"Actually, I think I get it a lot more than you do," Tom corrected her. "Everyone loses at some point. Did you really think that nobody was ever going to come along who was better than you? Plus aren't the All-Starz some supreme team anyway? Can you honestly say you're surprised that they beat you?"

"But that's not the point!" Antonia protested. "Just because they're pros doesn't mean that it's okay for us to lose against them. If we want to be a great team, then we need to be able to beat everyone, including the elite teams."

"And that's where your problem is. There is always going to be someone better than you. If you fall, then you get back up again and you try harder. Dad always taught us that," Tom pointed out. "What do you think he'd say if he knew that you'd stopped trying altogether? That you were just sitting here and moping about it instead?"

" _Don't_ try and tell me what Dad would think!" Antonia snarled.

"I don't need to. I know you already know that for yourself," said Tom. "What I don't know is why you're pretending you don't and not doing anything about it."

Antonia didn't say anything. She knew he was right. She knew she was behaving ridiculously. It was just hard to feel positive about improving after such a spectacular loss. And what was everyone else going to think of her now that she'd talked so tough and then hadn't been able to back it up in the dish?

As always, Tom knew what she was thinking. "Your teammates aren't going to care about this. Sure, they'll make a few digs at you, but then they'll forget about it and they'll want to improve just like you. Forget about the All-Starz and just concentrate on that. You can challenge them again the next time you're feeling crazy."

Antonia gave him a reluctant smile. "Check you, acting so wise and all-knowing."

"I _am_ wise and all-knowing, little sis," Tom grinned, getting to his feet. "So stop sulking and work on your blading instead. At least that'll actually get you somewhere." He peeked over her shoulder at the computer screen. "Oh, you're signing up for the gym again?"

"Looking to," said Antonia. "Just been checking out the rates for all the local ones."

"Is the one down on Ormskirk Boulevard any good?" asked Tom.

"Supposedly, yeah. They just did some renovations and apparently added a bunch of new equipment. Their rates are quite steep though - I already looked," replied Antonia. "Why?"

"Because I've got a coupon for a two-month free trial. I won it on a raffle at work last week," explained Tom. "You can have it if you want. I'm clearly not going to use it."

"What? Why didn't you tell me before!" exclaimed Antonia. Free access to brand new equipment sounded good to her, even if it was only for two months.

"I forgot," Tom grinned sheepishly.

"Not so wise and all-knowing after all then," Antonia teased.

"Hey, I can still be wise and all-knowing as well as forgetful," Tom laughed. "Besides, shouldn't you be nice to me if I'm going to give you this coupon?"

"Yeah, yeah, I love you and you're an amazing big brother and all that jazz," said Antonia, rolling her eyes. "Now gimme!"

Tom just laughed again. "I suppose that's good enough coming from you. I'll go grab it - it's in my room. Now what are _you_ going to do whilst I do that?"

Antonia sighed. "Ring Finlay back?"

"Atta girl."


End file.
